To answer Otterman:
I think he is asking a rhetorical question!!
The Regional integration into BA is not happening at all! In spite of negotiation about scope, there is NO move either from BALPA, or any set of management to bring the Regional side of things onto BA Ts and Cs and seniority list. For some reason, we do not get treated like the last acquisition of BA, that of CityFlyer Express. Instead, the management are imposing a new set of Ts and Cs, which they describe as being the best of the old Brymon and BRAL combined - except it isn't! There are a large number of sweetheart deals around, great outcry from the trainers, and the turboprop boys, as ever, are being royally shafted. The Final Salary scheme has now been closed to new entrants, and management refuse to give any assurances about its future for existing members. We have just been given new contracts to consider, except that there is a strange clause in the contract which gives the Company the ability to change any of it at any time, yes, I jerk you around not! Movement onto the BA master seniority list with its attendant Ts and Cs can currently only be done by normal application and interview. That is beside the point that we currently have 50, yes 50 ex-BA cadets working for us. These guys were told they no longer had a contract with BA after 9/11, due to hiring freeze. Our BA commandant, a Mr de la Foss, told us they were joining us as normal guys, bottom of OUR seniority list, on OUR Ts and Cs. We were saving them from the dole, he said, they had no further connection with BA, he said! Surprise, surprise now it turns out by a 'mistake' they were never issued Regional contracts. It seems that now, a year down the line, BA has decided to call them back (though they remain working for US) , and awarded them mainline Ts and Cs, and, to add insult to injury, they have been drawn into the BA final salary scheme, a benefit denied to many colleagues who were in the Regional Operation before and after them!!!!
Funnily enough, the Scope issue, described and discussed at length in another thread, seems to actually start BELOW the levels of some jets we already operate, and it seems from proposals 'leaked' out of the BALPA guys that we may actually not be able to progress to our own aeroplanes in the future. There is/was an attempt to put JUST our 146/RJ guys on BA Ts and Cs, but this has gone quiet at the moment. The actual operational integration is a complete shambles, making one ashamed to work for this airline at the moment.
The conclusion or message to the KLM uk guys is to fight every last friggin clause, don't believe a single word that management tell you, but when it comes down to it, and you prepare to grip your ankles and grit your teeth - have a jar of vaseline ready!